Successive transfer apparatus for surface treatment of elongate articles

ABSTRACT

A transfer apparatus for the successive transfer through a plating bath or a coating tank of a plurality of small elongate articles, comprising a plurality component units adapted for the automatic branching and transfer of the articles into, through and from the plating bath or coating tank, and so mechanically coordinated that the plating or coating operation can be performed automatically and without interruption of operation.

United States Patent 1 Wakabayashi et al.

[54] SUCCESSIVE TRANSFER APPARATUS FOR SURFACE TREATMENT OF ELONGATEARTICLES [75] Inventors: Ikuzo Wakabayashi; Tsutomu Sasaki, both ofYokohama,- Japan [73] Assignee: Nippon Kakon Kabushiki Kaisha [22]Filed: Mar. 26, 1971 [21] Appl. No 128,452

[30] 1 Foreign Application Priority Data Oct. 20, 1970 Japan ..45/9l61352 US. Cl ..198 82, 198/218 51 7 Int. Cl. ..'...B65g 37/00, B65g 25/04[58] Field ofSearch ..19s/27,31,21s,219,75

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 14 1 Mar. 27, 1973 2,708,5015/1955 Boehm ..198/27 3,061,078 10/1962 Davies.... .....198/2182,961,729 11/1960 Colliva l98/27 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 618,6703/1961 Italy ..198/219 Primary Examiner-Richard E. AegerterAttorney-Flynn & Frishauf [57] ABSTRACT transfer of the articles into,through and from the plating bath or coating tank, and so mechanicallycoordinated that the plating or coating operation can be performedautomatically and without interruption of operation.

12 Claims, 22 Drawing Figures 3,060,786 12/1962 Allgeyer ..19s 27 I200 m120: 120 A a 12o 300 471 700 o k 470 470 o D I 0 0 o O 2302001: 2 20 o ono W a o l 552 L 555 550 PATENTEUHARZYIQH 3, 7 ,552

SHEET 10F s PATENTEDMAR271973 SHEET 2 [IF 8 PATENTEDHARZYISYS SHEET 8 OF8 FIG. 2|

SUCCESSIVE TRANSFER APPARATUS FOR SURFACE TREATMENT OF ELONGATE ARTICLESface processing tank, such as a plating, bath, coating bath, or thelike.

In automatic machining or assembly devices, a chute or a chain conveyorsystem is sometimes used for the transport of small-sized articles suchas screws, pins, or the like successively and in trim order. In thecase'of the plating devices, however, no devices are known and utilizedwhereby small articles such as screws, pins, or the like can betransported in succession through the plating bath for a platingoperation as these articles are difficult to process severally withoutlowering the operational efficiency. However, in recent days, there isan increasing demand for devices enabling the positive and uniformsurface processing of these articles on their entire peripheralsurfaces.

Moreover, it has often been experienced that the plating step requiresusually much more timethan the pre-processing steps, suchas a picklingstep. In consequence, by having one processing line divided or branchedinto a desired number of lines, the efficiency of the transportoperation can be remarkable improved.

The present invention seeks to provide an apparatus comprising variouscomponent units which are mechanically inter-related to each other so asto fully satisfy the above-mentioned requirements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention resides in means forming aplurality of processing lines forthe elongate articles, each line havinga path comprising in succession a section leading into a processing tankor other vessel, a section leading through the tank or vessel, and asection leading from the previous section out'of the tank or vessel.Means are provided for feeding articles in singleline or row into eachprocessing line for progress therethrough. A vertically disposedtransfer unit is located in the downwardly first section and has meansfor stepwise movement of articles from a position above the tank to aposition in the lower portion of the tank. The section in the tank basemember with a plurality of articlereceiving recesses arranged in a row,one end recess of which is arranged to receive articles in successionfrom the transfer unit. Crank means connected to various members of thesection in the tank imparts a succession of forward and rearward strokesthereto to move articles in the row from one to the other of therecesses while rotating the articles about their axes. As each articlearrives at the other end recess it is picked out of the recess andlifted out of the tank by a graspingunit.

The present invention will now be described in detail' with reference tothe accompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment thereof, and inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a topplan view of the overall apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a side elevationalview thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of section A of FIG. 2 showing the detailedconstruction of the distributing unit;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line IV IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the gripping/transport unit;

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view thereof;

FIG. 7 is a front view of the relay/delivery unit;

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VIII VIII of FIG.7;

FIG. 9 is afront view of the vertical transfer unit,

part thereof being broken away;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of section B of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a top plan view of FIG. 9; FIGS. v12 to 14are the viewssimilar to FIG. 9 and showing several operative phases of the same unit;

FIG. 15 is a-partial front view of the movable combshaped segment of thesame unit; I

' FIG. 16 is a partial side elevation thereof;

FIG. 17 is a partial front view of the fixed combshaped segment of thesame unit;

FIG. 18 is a partial side elevation thereof; FIG. 19 is an enlarged viewshowing the details of the horizontal transfer groove; FIG. 20 is anenlarged view of section C of FIG. 2 showing the double-comb typetransfer unit in partial perspective; FIG. 21 is a front view of thelifting unit; and FIG. 22 is a cross-sectional view taken on the lineXXII XXII of FIG. 21.

Referring to FIG. 1, the elongate articles 20"t0 be processed by thepresent apparatus are fed by a suitable feed device 10 in trim order andat a fixed-interval, and

divided in a number of, herein four, transfer-lines through thedistributing units 100. Each unit comprises a movable table and agripping delivery unit arranged between the branch 'point.of the lineand said table 110. The table 110 is reciprocable in-aplan'e transverseto the transfer lines at a certain desired pitch. Referring to FIGS. 3and 5, the gripping/delivery unit 120 comprises a pair of pincers 121for gripping the articles, a stopper 122 cooperable with said pincers121, and a cam mechanism 123 forimpar ting vertical and swingingmovements to both said pincers 121 and stopper 122. While the article 20is fed stepwise on the end recess of the feed device 10, the pincers 121and 6) which, in turn, is fitted with a pair of pincers 121 at its lowerend. Thus, the pincers 121 are lowered together with shaft 128, withswinging of the lever 126, so as to grip article 20. As the cam 125further rotates to contact with said lever 126 by its elevated camsurface, shaft 128 is again raised with the article 20 held by pincers121. A cam 129 mounted on shaft 124 coaxially with cam 125 carries aroller 130 engaging with periphery of a pincers guide member 131. Thecontour of cam 129 is so selected that, when the shaft 128 slides to itsupper stationary position, the pincers guide member 131 is moved in anarc about shaft 132 to a cams 125, 129 acts on a second lever 134which,.in'

- turn, is kept in direct contact with stopper 122. As the pincers guidemember 131 is brought to a stop in the above-described manner, both thepincers 121 and stopper are lowered through levers 126, 134 kept indirect contact with cams 125, 133. The contour of cams 125, 133 isselected so that the pincers 121'and stoppers 122 are lowered with afixed distance thercbetween. When the pincers 121 and stopper means 122are brought to the predetermined positions, the stopper means 122 arebrought to a stop, and the pincers 121 alone start to be raised, onaccount of specifically selected cam surfaces of cams 125, 133. Thus,the article so'far held by-the pincers 121 is now released and placed onthe movable table 110. Then,

- the stoppers 122 start to be raised and both the pincers rotatingshaft 112 connected to a drive unit 900 (FIG.

1). A lever 115 swung at 116 is kept in pressure contact with cam 113through its roller 114 under the action of a compressed spring 136. Arack 118a secured to some stationary device has two rack portions oneither sides of the lever 115. These rack portions engage with two gears119a secured to a short shaft 117 slidably received in an oblong hole onthe upper partof the lver 115. Thus, the shaft 117 is moved horizontallyas viewed in FIG. 4 as the drive shaft 112 rotates. Gear 1191; is alsosecured to shaft 117 and meshes with a rack 11% secured to the bottom ofthe movable table 110. Thus, as the shaft 117 is moved back and forth inFIG. 4, gear 119b is set into rotation, and the desired reciprocatingmotion imparted to the table 110.

In the present embodiment, the articles are placed on a fixed table2lthrough gripping/delivery unit 120,

placed on and conveyed by the movable table 110 to the two i transferlines, and transferred to the gripping/delivery units 120a, 12%.

Reference is nowmade to FIGS. 7 and. 8 showing a preferred embodiment ofthe relay/transmitting unit 200, comprisingan inner comb-shaped segment210 1 and outer comb-shaped segment 220 and two pairs of cranking means230a, 230b secured to their peripheral portions. Each comb-shapedsegment 210, 220 has a series of projections on its upper side edge inthe form of comb-teeth defining a plurality of article-receivingrecesses and performs a crank motion phase shifted 180 relative to eachother through the linkage thereof with the cranking means 2300,2301), soas to transport articles 20 stepwise towards the distributing units120e, 120d. This relay/transmitting unit 200 may be designed in the sameway as the feed unit 400 to be described, or in any desired way,provided that articles can be 7 relayed between the distributing unitshorizontally and. at a fixed distance from each other. Followingtherelay/transmitting unit 200, the two lines are branched into fourthrough'the way of distributing unit 120e,

movable tables 110a, 110b and gripping/delivery units 120d, 120e, 120f,120g, 120k. The articles 20 can then be fed into the processing bath inthe four transfer lines by means of vertically disposed transfer units300a, 300b, 3000, 300d arranged on the respective line ends.

reiay ltransrrtittin'g units 200a, 2006 through the.

Reference is now made to FIGS. 9 to 11 showing a preferred embodiment ofthe vertical transfer unit 300 comprising a movable segment 310 and afixed segment, with comb-shaped strikers 370 provided optionally. Aguide plate 311 for the segment 310 is secured to two guide plates 312for articles 20 being transported. As shown in FIG. !1, shafts 317, 354are secured to the projected sides 313, 314 of the movable segment 310and the projected sides 351, 352 of the fixed comb 350. These shafts317, 354 are passed through oblong holes on the comb-shaped strikers370a, 370b. Said projected sides 313,314, 351, 352 and the comb-shapedstrikers 370a, 370b are placed in opposition and close proximity to eachother with a' small gap 315 adapted for prevention of articles 20 fromdroppingunintentionally, and provided with substantially horizontalgrooves 316, 353,371, 372 at a fixed vertical distance therebetweenequal to the pitch of transfer of the articles through the unit 300/Thisvertical distance, which is equal to that between the article 20 and thearticle 20a, should be selected to the proper value for the particulartransfer apparatus and in function of the vertical stroke of the movablecomb 310, as will become more apparent from the following description.

The vertical transfer unit 300 operates as follows:

When the movable comb 310 has reached its uppermost position as shown inFIG. 9, the article 20 is charged from the direction shown by the arrowmark.

As will be later described, the comb-shaped striker 370b suspendcdlyattached to the fixed comb 350 is raiseda small distance equal tothevertical extent of vthe oblong hole on the fixed comb 350. Thus, theartitogether. with the comb-shaped striker 370a suspendedly attachedthereto, the articles 20a, 20b, 2,0e

are received within the horizontal grooves 316, 371 and moved downtherewith. At this time, the combshaped striker 370b, urged into theimpulsory movement, is now lowered to the initial position. I

When the movable comb 310 approaches its lower- I most position (FIG.12), the comb-shaped striker 370a moving downwards therewith is broughtto a stop with the lever 318 abutting on the lower edge of the elongatedopenings formed on the guide plates 312. The movable comb 310 candescend further downwards the small distance equal to the verticalextent of the oblong hole. Thus, the comb-shaped striker 370a willperform moved upwards therewith. The articles 20, 20a 20d are nowreceived in the horizontal grooves 353, 372 (FIG. 13) and the movablecomb 310 is raised with comb-shaped striker 370a with the articles 20,20a

20d freed from the grooves 316, 371 (FIG. 14), until it reaches itsupper position shown in FIG. 9 for receiving the following article.

Referring now to FIGS. 15, 16, the comb-shaped striker 370a issuspendedly attached to the movable comb 310 through several shafts 317secured to the projected sides 313, 314, said shafts 317 passing throughthe oblong holes on the comb-shaped striker 370a with vertical extentequal to the short distance in the above sense. On each article guideplate 312, there is an elongated opening in which slides a lever 318formed on the comb-shaped striker 370a. The vertical extent of suchopening is selected to be equalto the stroke of the movable comb 310when the oblong hole is added to the lower end thereof. Supposing thatthe movable comb 310 is moving downwards with the comb-shaped striker370a and brought to the position higher than the lower end of its travelby the short distance above referred to, the comb-shaped striker 3700 isbrought to a stop, with its lever 318 abutting on the lower edge of theelongated opening. But, on account of the mounting mode of the movablecomb 310 to the comb-shaped striker -370a, explained in the foregoing,the movable comb 310 can descend further the small distance in the abovesense for causing impulsive upward movement of the comb-shaped striker370a with respect to the movable comb 310.

Referring to FIGS. 17 and 18, the comb-shaped striker 370b issuspendedly attached to the fixed comb 350 by several shafts 354 passedthrough oblong holes equal to the distance the comb-shaped striker 370bis hit to move upwards. On the article guide plate 312, there is a slitequal in vertical extent to the same distance as above. A lever 355secured to the combshaped striker 370b and slidable within said slit hasits two edges bent as shown a lever 356 is secured to said movable comb310 and movable therewith between the bent edges of the lever 355.Supposing that the short distance equal to the vertical extent of theoblong hole, when added to the upper end portion of the space defined bythe bend edges of the lever 355, is equal to the stroke of the movablecomb 310, or of the lever 356 secured thereto, the lever 356 will bebrought into abutting contact with the upper bent edge of the lever 355as the comb 310 is moved to the position lower than the upper end of itsstroke by the short distance in the above sense. Thus, the comb-shapedstriker 370b accompanies the movable comb 310 with an impulse movement.

FIG. 19 shows the shape of the horizontal grooves 316, 371, 353, 372.The lower edges of these grooves are sloped with a gradient of to 45 sothat the article 20 is always inclined to slide down by its own gravity.Therefore, the comb-shaped striker 370a, 370b are by no means essentialto the construction of the transfer unit 300. When the articles 20 aresmeared with machine oil or like adhesive agents, however, they canhardly be transferred smoothly from the grooves 316, 371 to the grooves353, 372 or vice versa. In this case, thecomb-shaped strikers 370a, 370bwill come into operation for compulsorily positioning articles on thebottom portion of the aligned grooves.

To the lower portion of the vertical transfer unit 300 inside thesurface processing reservoir 30, there are provided the same number ofthe double-comb type feed or second forwarding units 400 as the transferlines. As shown in FIG. 20, the unit 400 comprises a central comb-shapedsection 410, two lateral combshaped sections 450 and cranking devices470 as shown in FIG. 2 for imparting cranking movements to said sections410, 450. On the upper surface of the central comb-shaped section 410,there are formed a number of paired parallel projections 41 1 defining aplurality of cut-outs 412. The lateral comb-shaped sections 450 arearranged on both sides of the section 410 and formed with similarcut-outs 451 and 452 as those on the section 410. These sections 410,450 are suspended by means of the cranking devices 470 adapted forimparting cranking movements phase shifted relative to each other. Thecranking device 470 in the present embodiment comprises a crank 471,suspenders 472 and shafts 474, 475 interconnecting the lower portions473 of the sections 410, 450 and secured to the lower parts of thesuspenders 472. The unit 400 may also be arranged in the same way as theunit 200 already explained, and the embodiment shown herein is notlimitative. The offset distance of the cranks is designed to be equal tohalf the pitch of the cut-outs 451, 452. Numeral 476 denotes a stopperon the lateral combshaped sections 450. The crank movements performablewith the double-comb type transfer unit may be of any types as desired.In the present embodiment, the cranking movement is such that thecentral combshaped section 410 moves in arc towards the upper rightwhile the lateral sections 450 move towards lower left. The articles 20can be transported by the transfer unit 400 from left to right in FIG. 2as they are rolled about their axes, and are lifted in trim order fromthe reservoir 30 through a lift unit 500 provided to each processingline.

The lift unit 500 is shown in detail in FIGS. 21 and 22- and comprises agrasping device 510 and a lift device 550. The former device 510includes a body member 511 and a drive cam assembly 530. Said body 511is swingably mounted about, shaft 501 and has a movable cylinder 512therein which is acted upon by a compressed spring 517 to move downwardsinside the body member 511. A central shaft 525 is disposed inside thecylinder 512 and acted upon by a compressed spring 518 so as to movedounwards inside the cylinder 512. Central shaft 525 has a cut-out 526and acompressed apring 519 secured thereto and acts on a coupling shaft520. The coupling shaft 520, urged in this way to move downwards insidethe cylinder 512, has apin 521 towards its bottom slidably engagedwithin c'am slots 522, 523 on the fittings 515, 516 adapted for graspingthe article 20 therebetween. These fittings 515, 516 are swingable aboutpins 514, 513 formed on the bottom of the cylinder 512. Thus, when thecoupling shaft 520 is moved downwards, and the cylinder 512 encirclingit remains stationary, the fittings 515, 516 swing about the pins 514,513 for grasping or releasing the article 20 therebetween.

Next, the drive cam assembly 530 will be described. Numeral 531 denotesa drive shaft secured to cam plates 532, 532, 533 which are kept indirect pressure contact with rollers 538, 538, 539 fitted on levers 536,536, 537, respectively. These levers 536, 536, 537 are swingably mountedon a common shaft 535. The free ends of the levers 536, 536 are urged tomove downwards by abutment with pins 524, 524 of the cylinder 512 actedupon, as described, by the compressed spring 517. The free end of thelever 537 is received within the cut-out 526 on the center shaft 525acted upon, as described, by the compressed spring 518. [n this way, thethree levers 536, 536, 537 are kept in pressure engagement with the camplates 532, 532, 533 through the rollers 538, 538, 539, respectively.Numeral 527 denotes a bracket fitted to the body member 511 and carriesa roller 528 at its foremost portion. Numeral 529 dcnotes a furtherbracket fitted to the top of the body member 511 and acted upon by acompressed spring 540 so as to cause the body 511 to turn clockwiseabout shaft 501. The roller S28 is thus kept in pressure engagement withcam plate 534. Thus, the cam plates 532, 533, 534 are set into rotationsimultaneously with rotation of the drive shaft 531, so as to cause thelevers 536, 536, 537 to oscillate in conformity with the respective camsurface configuration.

vIt will be realized from the foregoing that by suitably selectingthesev cam surface configurations the article 20 grasped by the graspingfittings 15, 516 and lifted to the predetermined position with elevationof said fittings 515, 516 can be transferred to a position above support555 of thelifting device 550 and there released with swinging of thebody-511', brought about by rotation of the cam plate 534. I

The lifting device 550 comprises two parallel arms 551, 552 swingableabout shafts 553, 554 and a support 555 connected by a pin connection tothe ends of the arms 551, 552. Numeral 556 denotes a drive shaft fittedwith a crank 557 having a roller 558 at its end engaging in an elongatedslot 559 formed on the arm 551. Said arm 551 is swung about shaft 553through the rotational movement of the crank 557 thus causing thesupportSSS to move in an arc in retaining its horizontal position.

Thus, the article 20, grasped by the grasping device 510 is placed onthe lift device through the grasping, lifting and swinging motions ofthe grasping device 510 and lifted to the next feed unit 600 through thelifting device'550.

This unit 600 has the same construction as the units 200 or 400'alreadydescribed, and is used for feeding articles sequentially towards rightin FIGS. 1 and 2. So far, the articles 20 have been fed in the desirednumber of lines but they are not collected in one place by means of ahopper 700, and charged into a container 800. The drive unit 900 fordriving each unit is so designed that a main shaft 903 is set intorotation from drive power source 901 comprising a motor and a speedreducer, for example, through a torque limiter 902,'and each unit isdriven from this main shaft 903 through bevel gears 904. in the case ofthe grasping and temperatures and corrosive atmosphere, in the case of aplating operation, and satisfactory operation may be assured.

What is claimed is:

l. A successive transfer apparatus for surface treatment of a pluralityof elongate articles in a processing reservoir comprising:

feed means for feeding said articles in at least one feed line;

a distributing unit receiving the articles from said feed means, saiddistributing unit having a grasping and delivery device and a supportblock for longitudinally separating or branching the articles from saidfeed line of said feed means into a plurality of branch feed lines anddistributing said articles into respective branch transfer systems;

a relay-transmitting unit receiving the articles from each of saidbranch feed lines of said distributing unit, each relay-transmittingunit having a plurality of comb-shaped segments provided with a numberof longitudinal constant pitch grooves in which said articles arereceived, said comb-shaped segments carrying out a cranking movementwith a phase shift of relative to each other for feeding said articlesfrom groove-to-groove in a spaced manner from each respective branchfeed line;

a processing reservoir a vertical transfer unit receiving articles fromeach of said relay-transmitting units, each vertical transfer unithaving a vertically movable comb and a fixed comb of a constant widthand a given length, said combs being mounted vertically in closeproximity and in opposition to each other and having on the opposingsides thereof a number of constant pitch grooves, said vertical transferunits moving said articles in said grooves vertically to said processingreservoir;

a double-comb type transfer unit receiving the articles from each ofsaid vertical transfer units, each of said transfer units being immersedin said processing reservoir and including comb-shaped segments providedwith a plurality of longitudinal constant pitch grooves in which saidarticles are received, said segments being cranked with a phase shit of-180 relative to each other for rolling axially and advancing saidarticles groove-bygroove in a spaced manner through said processingreservoir, said double-comb type transfer units being similar inconstruction to said relay-transmitting units; and I a grasping unit forremoving processed articles from said double-comb type transfer units insaid processing reservoir, said grasping unitcomprising a swingable gripdevice for selectively gripping an article, a driving-cam mechanismoperably coupled to move said grip device, and a lift device for liftingsaid grip device, the lift device including a plurality of leversswingable in parallel relation and a support fitted to the ends thereof.2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said relay-transmitting unitstransfer said articles in a stepby-step manner.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said double-comb type transferunits transfer said articles in a step-by-step manner.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said processing reservoir islocated below said relay-transmitting unit, and wherein saidrelay-transmitting unit is downwardly inclined toward said processingreservoir.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said double-comb type transferunits are upwardly inclined.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 comprising a common drive meansoperatively coupled to said feed means, distributing unit,relay-transmitting unit, vertical transfer unit and double-comb typetransfer unit.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said distributing unitincludes a conveyor-type means reciprocably movable substantiallyperpendicular to said feed line of said feed means for branching saidarticles.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said distributing unitincludes a plurality of grasping and delivery devices for branching saidarticles.

9. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said distributing unitincludes a plurality of cascaded grasping and delivery devices to firstbranch said feed line into a first plurality of lines, and to thenbranch said first plurality of lines into a second plurality oflines.

10. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the comb-shaped segments ofeach relay-transmitting unit have an eccentricity of one half the pitchof the comb.

11. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the comb-shaped segments ofeach double-comb type transfer unit have an eccentricity of less thanone half of the comb pitch.

12. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said grasping unit includes aplurality of swingable grip devices, the number of which is the samenumber as the number of branch lines passing through said processingreservoir.

1. A successive transfer apparatus for surface treatment of a pluralityof elongate articles in a processing reservoir comprising: feed meansfor feeding said articles in at least one feed line; a distributing unitreceiving the articles from said feed means, said distributing unithaving a grasping and delivery device and a support block forlongitudinally separating or branching the articles from said feed lineof said feed means into a plurality of branch feed lines anddistributing said articles into respective branch transfer systems; arelay-transmitting unit receiving the articles from each of said branchfeed lines of said distributing unit, each relaytransmitting unit havinga plurality of comb-shaped segments provided with a number oflongitudinal constant pitch grooves in which said articles are received,said comb-shaped segments carrying out a cranking movement with a phaseshift of 180* relative to each other for feeding said articles fromgrooveto-groove in a spaced manner from each respective branch feedline; a processing reservoir a vertical transfer unit receiving articlesfrom each of said relay-transmitting units, each vertical transfer unithaving a vertically movable comb and a fixed comb of a constant widthand a given length, said combs being mounted vertically in closeproximity and in opposition to each other and having on the opposingsides thereof a number of constant pitch grooves, said vertical transferunits moving said articles in said grooves vertically to said processingreservoir; a double-comb type transfer unit receiving the articles fromeach of said vertical transfer units, each of said transfer units beingimmersed in said processing reservoir and including comb-shaped segmentsprovided with a plurality of longitudinal constant pitch grooves inwhich said articles are received, said segments being cranked with aphase shit of 180* relative to each other for rolling axially andadvancing said articles groove-by-groove in a spaced manner through saidprocessing reservoir, said double-comb type transfer units being similarin construction to said relay-transmitting units; and a grasping unitfor removing processed articles from said double-comb type transferunits in said processing reservoir, said grasping unit comprising aswingable grip device for selectively gripping an article, a driving cammechanism operably coupled to move said grip device, and a lift devicefor lifting said grip device, the lift device including a plurality oflevers swingable in parallel relation and a support fitted to the endsthereof.
 2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein saidrelay-transmitting units transfer said articles in a step-by-stepmanner.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said double-comb typetransfer units transfer said articles in a step-by-step manner. 4.ApparaTus according to claim 3 wherein said processing reservoir islocated below said relay-transmitting unit, and wherein saidrelay-transmitting unit is downwardly inclined toward said processingreservoir.
 5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said double-combtype transfer units are upwardly inclined.
 6. Apparatus according toclaim 1 comprising a common drive means operatively coupled to said feedmeans, distributing unit, relay-transmitting unit, vertical transferunit and double-comb type transfer unit.
 7. Apparatus according to claim1 wherein said distributing unit includes a conveyor-type meansreciprocably movable substantially perpendicular to said feed line ofsaid feed means for branching said articles.
 8. Apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein said distributing unit includes a plurality of graspingand delivery devices for branching said articles.
 9. Apparatus accordingto claim 4 wherein said distributing unit includes a plurality ofcascaded grasping and delivery devices to first branch said feed lineinto a first plurality of lines, and to then branch said first pluralityof lines into a second plurality of lines.
 10. Apparatus according toclaim 1 wherein the comb-shaped segments of each relay-transmitting unithave an eccentricity of one half the pitch of the comb.
 11. Apparatusaccording to claim 1 wherein the comb-shaped segments of eachdouble-comb type transfer unit have an eccentricity of less than onehalf of the comb pitch.
 12. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein saidgrasping unit includes a plurality of swingable grip devices, the numberof which is the same number as the number of branch lines passingthrough said processing reservoir.